Freezing Warmth
by ElizabethSH
Summary: OS - A little more caskett-ish version of the Freezer scene in 3x17 Countdown


****After an Anon's request; here is my version of the Freezer scene in _3x17 Countdown_, a bit more caskett-ish...

NOTE: I had no Beta; please forgive or report any silly grammar and syntax mistakes (English is not my mother tongue).

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**FREEZING WARMTH**

"Are you trying to kill us sooner?" Screamed Richard Castle while attempting to shield himself from the crossfire.

"D'you have a better idea?" Kate Beckett lowered her gun.

"Maybe save a few rounds in case they come back" was the first idea that came to his mind.

Kate Beckett was certain that they wouldn't come back. They wanted them out of the way. Now, locked-up in this freezer where her _wonderful_ instinct led them, they were as good as dead. They were probably long gone by now.

However, Richard Castle was right about one thing; she was going to kill them if she kept firing. She looked at him and they considered their two damned options; fight to survive or wait to die. Concretely, both meant 'doing nothing'. All they actually could do was accepting their fate.

She truly hated their situation. They had found the bomb, for god's sake. All that had happened after was silly and pointless. Just stand in the cold and wait for death; not an option! She wanted to fight, but she had no opponent.

"Castle, I could use a silver lining right about now, okay?" She begged.

"Yeah ... hum_"_. He walked towards her. "I wish I had one"

A nervous smile appeared on his lips. Ironically, for once, she wished he had one too. Her eyes lowered while Castle's body shivered.

"Eventually, we should ... hum"

Beckett looked up at him. She agreed: "Yeah, we should... hum".

They both didn't dare to look at each other. She stepped forward as he did. She rested her head on his chest and surrounded him with her arms.

"This is ... awkward" He said as he held her tight.

As she heard his heart pounding in his chest, Beckett agreed just loud enough to be heard. His heart remained fairly calm which soothed her a bit.

They stood silent for a moment, wishing the circumstances were different as a subtle feeling awake within them.

"Do you know how ... what's going to happen if we don't get out of here soon?" He said to break the silence.

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure I'd like to wonder which of my organs will break down first."

"What now? We are just going to wait here to die? That's our plan?" He pressed his chin on her head.

"No! We are waiting to be rescued. You hear me?" She tightened her embrace. "The only dead body here is Jamal. I am not joining him and _you_ are not either. Our _plan_ is to still be alive when they'll find us"

"And in the mean time?"

"We think of ways to keep warm"

"I know a way ..."

"Quite frankly Castle, I'm not really in the mood to take my clothes off"

She kept on thinking while he let his disturbed imagination filled the blanks.

Kate started to moves his arms up and down in his back

"Castle, rub my back. _Castle_?"

"Yes, sorry. Rubbing. Good idea."

She sighed as he finally started.

After a few minutes, they understood it wasn't going to save them. Their hands stopped gently.

"Well, exercise is always a good idea ..." said Castle.

"Not sure. It might keep our blood from stalling, but sweat will freeze us to death before feeling any warm. I think our best shot is still to curl up on the floor and wait"

Letting go of each other a bit, they understood that the other's warmth was precious. A cold chill streamed down Beckett's spine as they approached the wall of their icy prison. Their legs were already resistant to their movements and so, as they bend down, they fell the last centimetres to the ground.

"How much time do you think we'll have to wait?" Castle said as he embraced her in his arms again.

"I don't know, a few hours maybe" She rested her head on his shoulder and turned away from him.

"I don't think we'll hold a few hours. What has it been now, an hour or two?"

"I'd say two hours."

"They'll have to find us before 4 o'clock tonight or the whole city is going to die, and they don't even know. They didn't see the counter like we did. This freezer will probably protect us from the blast and radiations, but I'm guessing we'll be dead well before that."

"What did I say about death talk Castle?"

"Sorry, going through the worst case scenario again"

"_Whatever_ happens, there is no way that kind of thinking is going to do us good. Some things are better left unsaid, and this is a perfectly good example. So unless you have some non-death talk left, please shut up."

"Right. You're right, sorry."

With their following moment of silence, they kept wondering how much frozen their body were. Starting with their extremities; they could barely move them and it was painful. Legs and arms were reluctant to move. Vital organs were hard to assess, but they seemed fine. Head and mind; slowly falling to sleep. Pretty quickly, toes and fingers became too frozen to be felt anymore.

"Castle, are you there?"

Her breathing was heavier and her eyes squinted as she was day-dreaming of warmer and faster ways to die. She tried to correct her thinking as she did earlier with Castle, but up to now, death has never felt so sweet to her.

"I'm alright – right ... I'm right here" He responded with difficulty.

"C-can't feel anything"

She wondered how long it would take from there. She'd always thought a bullet would have killed her, she confessed to him out loud. She'd always thought that somewhere in this town, someone was carrying the bullet that was meant to be the death of her. She'd never imagine this freezer to be her casket, their casket.

"Hey, we're not dead yet" he whispered as he could still hear her saying in his sleepy mind not to think like that.

"I just wish this was one of your books and you could re-write the ending"

He wished the same. She couldn't be more right; their end was near and it sucked. Their story would've been better with them succeeding in disarming the bomb, but this was no damned book, this was reality and nobody ever got to decide or re-write the ending, it just was. His mother came on his mind at that moment. Surprisingly, all he remembered were the great moment they had together, even the worst moment seemed to be laughable. Then, Alexis; smart, beautiful and kind, so much to be proud of. She would make a brilliant woman in a few years, but he'll never see it happen. He remembered his ex-wives Meredith and Gina, and then he remembered Beckett. So much had change since they first met. He had always been attracted to her, but it slowly turned into something deeper. Thinking back, it seemed to him that it never really was about the books, it had always been an excuse to be around her. The same way a scholar will be sent into detention on purpose to have some time alone with the teacher. As images of her flashes before his eyes, he felt blessed, almost forgetting that she was right there, beside him, inhaling her last breathes.

"I'm sorry" He whispered.

"For what?" She dropped in a shallow exhalation.

"For being me. For going rogue. For getting into ... this, if we- "

She hushed him. "No Castle, _shhh_. You were right. We found the bomb ... and we are just too late, okay?"

_Too late_. The words hit them hard as they realised no hope was left for them, it was too late. She gathered the little strength she had to face him, hold him closer. As she did, he pressed his cheek on her forehead and tightened his arms around her.

"And I'm sorry ..." She started, "I'm sorry you feel that way... you were always a great partner, Castle... I'm really glad you ... we worked together"

"If we are going to die ... I want you to know-"

She raised a frozen finger to his lips and hushed him once more. Her blurry eyes met his before lowering to his lips. Her hand moved from his mouth to his jaw, gently pulling him towards her.

"I should've done this ... long ago" she said.

Their lips met softly, barely touching. Then, she closed mouth on his lower lips, gently pulling it towards her. She was ready to have another bite, but he broke their goodbye kiss as gently as it started.

He opened his eyes to look at her. She placed her head back on his shoulder and kept her eyes closed.

"Thank you" she murmured "for being there"

"Always" he answered in a fading smile.

He kissed her forehead; she closed her eyes and lost consciousness. He begged her to stay until he felt Morpheus calling him as well.

He stopped fighting and closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, he was awakened. He tried to see; everything was blurry and too bright. They were voices too; inaudible and vague to his frozen ears.

They found us, he thought. We'll be alright.

Finally, he allowed himself into unconsciousness.


End file.
